


A Song For Her Lady

by FreezingKaiju, Pupmon1



Category: Kill la Kill (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Angst, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, ryumakogoori implied
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-26 17:12:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18183446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreezingKaiju/pseuds/FreezingKaiju, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pupmon1/pseuds/Pupmon1
Summary: Nonon Jakuzure. Bard. Assassin. Personal musician to the enigmatic Princess Satsuki Kiryuin, and enjoying it...but what does the princess do when she disappears from the castle every now and then? Why does she keep so much of herself secret? Did she consider Nonon a friend?...and will Nonon be able to assassinate her?





	A Song For Her Lady

Nonon sat on her bed, staring blankly at her violin. She was still...but her mind wasn’t. It was racing through the events she would have to do tonight...take her dagger...and plunge it into Lady Satsuki’s heart. Simple as that. And it had to be tonight, that’s what the contract ordered. Something about the guard change...details like that didn’t matter with something so planned out. She just had to slip into Satsuki’s room...and kill her. Easy. Simple. Standard contract.

So why was her head spinning at the thought?

...because it was Satsuki, she reminded herself. Lady Satsuki. The closest thing she had had, so far, to a friend. Nonon, in her time as her personal musician, had learned that the cold Satsuki the court knew...wasn’t the real her. The songs she was requested to play, the small glances she’d get as Satsuki relaxed around her...these aren’t things a cold person driven by logic does. There’s more to her than that.

As a bard, getting close to people is what she’s trained to do. Get close...learn secrets...sell them...slit throats...that’s her job. But Satsuki was strange. She let Nonon get close, hell they were practically friends...or as close to friends as they could get...but Satsuki never, ever, even as she was falling asleep to a lullaby, never mumbled out anything close to a secret. Maybe she didn’t have any...being the princess, and daughter to someone like Queen Ragyo...or maybe the ones she did have her own head would be on the block if she let slip.

Nonon shook her head and readied her violin, she told Satsuki she was going to practice in her room...and she didn’t want to appear to be lying. The notes felt sour and heavy as she played, her fingers and the bow falling where they may as thoughts kept spinning in her head. It was a contract...she was supposed to kill Satsuki...she had to……it’s what she was trained to do.

Eventually the notes smoothed...as did her mind. She...she could do this. She didn’t need their connection. She...just needed her music. That’s all she’s always had. After all...this was just another performance, wasn’t it? She hated to end her performances, it always felt like someone was forcing her off the stage...but the notes were going sour and, well, she had a contract to draw it to its finale. All shows must end...this one ends in a dance of knives...as so many others have.

She sank into a steady rhythm, swaying with her music. Just focus on the job, and let the music carry all the worries and questions and thoughts away. Her shoulders relaxed, and the music started to loose its soul as she let herself sink into the killer mindset she was trained with so long ago. Her fingers stopped dancing along the neck of the violin and she set it on the bed. Violin away, pull out knife. Just another instrument, just as well-worn and just as well-kept.

She twirled it between her fingers and looked out the window of her room. Nightfall... Satsuki will be asleep in a few minutes... she rarely stayed up when she wasn’t playing for her. So she only paused, going over the contract in her head before leaving her room and walking down the hall. She kept her blade close to her body, pressed between her forearm and side, as she made her way to the royal quarters. She stopped in front of the heavy oak door that lead to Satsuki’s foyer.

She only hesitated for a moment before putting a hand on the door and quietly pushing it open. And it was here, in the foyer with the lounging chair and desk and bookshelves...here she faltered again.

This was in this room she played for Satsuki, her private stage, so many times before. Where she cheered her up in darker moments, where they talked nights away, where...where Nonon had felt like she had a connection with someone...for the first time that she can remember. She touched the desk, her finger brushing a notch...she remembered how it got there. It was the first time she had gotten too familiar with Satsuki and just...came in. The princess was practicing with a strange black blade, and was startled enough to put slightly too much power behind the swing, leaving the notch. Nonon quickly apologized for interrupting...and Satsuki welcomed her with a gentle gesture to come in, and a slight smile...more than she had shown others.

If Satsuki could trust her like that...could show Nonon even a little of that side of herself...then she was about to commit the ultimate betrayal. Nonon shook her head and steeled herself. No, she had to do this. She had a contract. She had to. It was her job.

The assassin approached the door to her lady’s bedroom and put a hand on the handle...and went still. She couldn’t push the door open...she couldn’t move forward. God, what was she doing? Was she really about to just...kill Satsuki? Was she about to break the silent promise they had made for a meaningless, empty promise written on a piece of parchment? The only substantial reason she could go through with this...was the pouch of money sitting in her room. No...no that wasn’t enough either.

There was a distinct sound of metal on hardwood as the knife clattered out of her hand...Nonon following it a moment later. She collapsed to her knees and gripped her head. It was spinning...she was shaking...she couldn’t stop it. There were tears streaming from her eyes. Were they there before? Did it matter? It felt like her entire self was crashing down around her... she may have been sobbing, she may have whispered something...she didn’t even know.

She stopped completely when the door in front of her creaked open...and fear shot through her. Satsuki was awake...she knew if she raised her gaze just a bit she would see her standing there, looking at her through the crack in the door. How pathetic she must look right now.

“Nonon.”

She flinched. Her mouth opened, but her voice declined to respond.

“Get up,” Satsuki ordered in a firm voice.

Nonon limply shook her head. After everything she almost did...she doesn't deserve to do as such. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a glint of that black blade….and she closed her eyes. She shifted positions carefully, moving to sit on her knees and have her hands in front of her, her head down.

She couldn’t think of a more fitting end to her performance...than getting her strings cut by the woman she just couldn't bring herself to kill.

“To your feet, Nonon,” Satsuki ordered once more. Was she stalling? Was she intending to draw this out? Nonon would prefer a swift death to...well, there are many worse deaths she has imagined on sleepless nights.

Nonon moved shakily, slowly getting to her feet. If she obeyed...maybe she’d be allowed a swift death, instead of being turned over to Ragyo...she knew what happened to people who fell into her grasp. They wished for death above what Ragyo does to them. Nonon stood in front of Satsuki, her head still down. She didn’t dare meet Satsuki’s gaze...

“Nonon. Look me in my eyes.”

She really must enjoy drawing this out...doing everything to make her uncomfortable. Nonon took a shaky breath and lifted her head...a little above a flat gaze. Curse her short stature...

Satsuki met her gaze for a few seconds that seemed like an eternity. Finally, she opened her mouth and issued...what Nonon wasn’t sure was an order or not.

“Explain.”

Nonon was silent for a few moments. There was a lot of things she could explain...why she was standing outside her door, why she had a knife, why she had been crying...too many things.

“Explain what?” she asked curtly.

“Explain why you have yet to stab me.”

Nonon was again silent. But this time it wasn’t because she was confused. Well she was...but also wasn’t. She expected a question about what she was doing, but not something so specific. She had to give an honest answer. She looked down, her gaze focusing on the blade discarded at her feet.

“I couldn’t. I couldn’t do it. But it doesn’t matter now. You know what I meant to do. My head is yours.”

“Of course I know. Which is why it hasn’t been removed from your shoulders.”

“You’re not...going to kill me?” The question was soft and hesitant. It wasn’t like Satsuki to show mercy... that she had gotten from her mom.

“No.”

“Why not?” Nonon demanded. “I tried to kill you! I was going to! You should-”

“But you didn't,” Satsuki said, as cool and level headed as ever. “You stopped. You didn't do it. You proved your loyalty.”

“I—“ Nonon simply blinks at that. “My loyalty...” She...she was loyal, she supposed. After all…

And now that the danger was over...Nonon was upset. “...you...you did this on purpose…” she mumbled. “This was a test...you made me go through that for a _test_?”

Satsuki nodded. “You passed. Very few do. Which means you have earned my trust, if you want it.”

“Of course I do! But did you have to make me almost rip out my own heart to get it?!”

For a moment, Satsuki seemed almost taken aback. It only lasted a moment...maybe less... but Nonon saw the glimmer of something she never had before. “I...had underestimated, to my own error. But I had to make sure.”

Nonon stopped and took a steady breath. “Let me get this right...you put out a contract...on your own head...sent it specifically to me to see if I would murder the closest thing to a friend I ever had?”

“I was unaware you thought of me that way. Meet me in the garden tomorrow, I can explain why I had to then.”

Nonon stared up at Satsuki for a moment before moving carefully. She hooked her knife with her foot, flicking it into the air. She caught it as she turned and just...walked out of Satsuki’s room.

She couldn’t hear anything behind herself. Who knows what Satsuki was doing. She certainly didn’t anymore. She just retreated back to her room, grabbed her violin, and started playing again.


End file.
